There have been a wide variety of designs for load carrying racks designed to go on the bed rails of a pickup truck. These racks allow for the user of the vehicle to carry loads on the racks as opposed to carrying these loads in the pick up bed which in turn frees up usable space to carry other items in the pickup bed. TracRac's patented vehicle roof rack, U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,743, is a rack supported by a pickup truck's bed rails which is designed to carry loads such as ladders and recreational equipment. However, because of the design of the rack system, it does not allow the user to install a camper shell at the same time that the user would have the racks on the vehicle. For example, if the user has installed one of these load carrying racks and has items that he/she is carrying in the bed of the truck, these items could potentially be exposed to adverse weather conditions because these items would not be protected since a camper shell cannot be used simultaneously with these load carrying racks.
Furthermore, there have been numerous designs of vehicle roof racks designed to go on the top of a camper shell or cap in order to carry recreational equipment such as kayaks, canoes, and surfboards. Yakima Products U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,169 and Industri AB Thule U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,656 are examples of vehicle roof rack systems which can be mounted on top of a camper shell. However, these designs use the roof surface of the camper shell or cap to support the weight of the rack and the equipment carried on the rack. Since camper shells are constructed out of relatively light load bearing materials such as aluminum sheet or fiberglass sheet, they cannot support much weight.
The present invention offers a number of advantages over the previously mentioned references. The pickup truck bed rack will provide additional storage space for items such as recreational equipment and ladders. It will fasten to the bed rails of a pickup truck allowing the rack to carry heavier loads than a roof mounted rack on a camper shell. It will also allow the use of a camper shell on the vehicle with the rack mounted in place. The invention will be a universal rack system being able to accommodate small size, mid size and full size pick up truck beds. It will be relatively light in weight constructed primarily of aluminum or another similar lightweight metal, yet sturdy in construction. It will be attractive in appearance, easy to install, and will not damage the vehicle to which it is attached. It will be able to accommodate accessories that can be mounted on it in order to provide a variety of transporting needs.
Further features, advantages and embodiments will be apparent from the following description.